First Draft

These People Should Be Vilified, or Shunned

This is exactly the kind of treatment Rumsfeld and those like him are due.

A.

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

Above is the view from Dr. A's office in dowtown NOLA. It looks like London in 1895 or Los Angeles in 1965.  Here's why: a marsh fire in New Orleans East has been raging for the past few days and the powers that be are letting it burn baby burn. A controlled burn is arguably a sound decision in the sticks but in such close proximity to an urban area it strikes me as malakatude. The authorities are waiting for rain and since there's no chance until tomorrow (and only a 20% one at that) we'll continue to wheeze, sniffle and hack. I wonder if they've considered calling in Burt Lancaster?

Mayor Landrieu is consulting with the Governor's office as I write this and perhaps something will happen since this will give PBJ a chance to get on teevee and speed talk. Perhaps our singin' Mayor and fast talkin' Governor could do a duet on this Kern-Harbach classic:

 

   

How to Help Vermont

Via Dan on Twitter here's an overview of the damage:

• More than 260 roads were wiped out or damanged, and at least six bridges were totally washed out out, and 30 bridges remain closed.
• Forty propane tanks were swept out of a storage yard in Woodstock and ruptured when they struck the bridge downstream in Quechee.
• At least 280 people have been left homeless (temporarily, one hopes) and are staying in Red Cross shelters.
• At least eleven communities have "been cut off from the state highway system," and this happens to include my town of Middletown Springs.
• A state government complex in Waterbury flooded severely and is closed indefinitely.

The photos are stunning. Just stunning.

Here's one place to tell you how to donate. Post other links in the comments.

A.

Standing

I was David Simon's handler for Rising Tide 6. It was my pleasure: he was friendly, courteous and totally professional. He also gave a very interesting speech centered around the concept of standing. It's most familiar to me as a legal term as in standing to sue. The speech *almost* gave me law school flashbacks but I reeled that reaction in.

Anyhoo, here's Simon's speech with an introduction by moi. It's a bit hammy but, hey, you gotta work the room, y'all:

David Simon - Keynote Speaker, Rising Tide VI from Jason Berry on Vimeo.

 

 

The Hunger Games: Trailer

Get More: 2011 VMA, Music

We'll be talking about this a bit. Because Katniss Everdeen is my motherfucking homegirl.

A.

Our Lady of New Orleans

Fixed, says a better writer than I am, is not unbroken.

I went to New Orleans this year for Rising Tide with the memory of it four years ago fresh in my mind. With the memory of the bravery of its people, with the shell-shock and desperate stretched smiles wide, fresh in my mind. I was prepared for that, for the rage that swept over me at the abandonment of this place to hit me like a wrecking ball again.

And there she was, standing on the lawn, in front of the garden hose and the neatly kept yard, around the corner from Adrastos and Dr. A, on a street where neighbors have arguments about trash and parking. She's worn, a little, her blue finery faded, her altar chipped, but she stands. There are dozens like her, all over the city. There are similar small monuments in neighborhoods near where I live, keeping watch over a small patch of grass, or a garden.

All weekend long, while another hurricane battered and killed, I kept asking people, at parties that felt like reunions, if it sounded terrible to talk about how wonderful things looked to me. If by mentioning that it seemed so joyous here now, so crowded, so noisy, so alive, that meant I was somehow saying it was all okay, and we could just forget what happened.

It was quiet, when I came here before, in 2007, with a bunch of you to see what we'd done as a country and try in some small way to help. It was quiet. The streets were quiet. There was very little traffic to dodge, very few people to approach or avoid, even 18 months after the storm. And it was a question, a question that enraged people but nonetheless a question: Would New Orleans be rebuilt?

It's not quiet anymore. The scars of abandonment are still there, the chips, the wear. The markings on a house used to signify if it had been searched, the landmarks people used in conversation: This is right around the corner from where they found a body. But there are other landmarks now, too, gloriously ordinary: There was a tree here, and they cut that down. 

And it's not a question anymore. Out here, in the vast country of Not New Orleans, people do still occasionally ask it, as if it's still up for debate. That's what I'm saying. It's not up for debate. People did it. They're doing it. They've done it. Slowly, painfully, harder than they should have had to do it, but it's over, that debate. It's not whether and if but how and when, and the how and when doesn't ever really stop, but that's okay because it's not supposed to.

Not unbroken.

Fixed.

A.

previously: Our Lady of the Driveway

Six Years

Today on Tommy T's Obsession with the Freeperati - Strange Bedfellows edition

Mornning, all! Thanks ever so for the new iso suit.  Didn't know they made them with CD changers.

Well, Freeperville has been kinda bogged down of late, without much of note other than the 16 hour outage (more on that below the fold). I was wondering if I was going to have to go back to some old threads, and then - without warning - the floodgates opened up and a wonderful torrent of Freeper sewage spewed forth.

(have I been doing this for too long?)

Let's give the old airlock door a spin and see who's in whose bed these days, shall we?

First up - Blackflash!

Flash Mob Data Base
violentflashmobs.com ^

Posted on Friday, August 26, 2011 5:19:43 PM by freejohn

The purpose of this site is to document dangerous, violent, or otherwise unwanted flash mobs and group mayhem. I find these crimes to be particularly galling because they're indicative of societal dysfunction, rather than an individual pathology.

Definition of a flash mob: A large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse.

Definition of a wilding: The activity by a gang of youths of going on a protracted and violent rampage in a public place, attacking or mugging people at random.

I fully admit it's often difficult to distinguish between a flash mob, a wilding, a riot, an unruly crowd, a swarm robbery, and a fight with an unequal number of participants. One incident often has elements of all those things so you may find some of the flash mobs I've identified don't fit your definition.

I only include events with four or more participants. I am not including group "brawls" from nightclubs, bars, house parties or sporting events. While this list may seem comprehensive, the actual number of incidents is much greater. For example, I won't document smash and grab robberies that occur without witnesses or video since I can't confirm they were group attacks. In a similar vein, if the media doesn't pick up on a story, I can't list it.

*********************************************

I came across this site by accident and didn't see it posted on here.

There are links to each mob incident.

1 posted on Friday, August 26, 2011 5:19:47 PM by freejohn

It's like throwing a lit match into a puddle of gasoline.

.

To: OddLane

I sent the guy an email and gave him a link to the post.

I invited him to join FR if he isn’t already a member.

He has a very good site!

(To the ladies .. The person may very well be a lady, I don’t know so I used the ‘him’ descriptor out of ignorance) 8)

Commie.

6 posted on Friday, August 26, 2011 5:29:54 PM by freejohn ("Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference." --- Mark Twain)

.

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To: freejohn

Perhaps we could start “flash mobbing” the individual incidents to the worthless left-wing “media” slugs, since these poor white-guilt inflicted souls just “aren’t aware” of such goings-on. Maybe they can find a “cracker” fighting back in one of them, so they can “get right on it” and do their constitutional duty. I won’t hold my breath.

9 posted on Friday, August 26, 2011 5:41:30 PM by jivin gene (Breakin' up is hard to do)

Other Freeperati take a more proactive stance:

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To: freejohn

I carry a S/W .357 in my car...I’m considering switching to my 9mm because I’m afraid I may encounter a much target richer environment than I have been anticipating.

10 posted on Friday, August 26, 2011 5:47:32 PM by Cyber Liberty (Herbert Hoover never allowed US Bonds to drop below AAA rating.)

You see, with a 9 milly, you can pop more mad caps in they black asses. Be sure and hold the gun sideways. yadig?

.

To: Dajjal

Does anyone think that if these were all mobs .. composed of, let’s say, Amish .. the media would hold back the reporting of it as they are now?

19 posted on Friday, August 26, 2011 9:07:31 PM by freejohn ("Never argue with a fool; onlookers may not be able to tell the difference." --- Mark Twain)

I knew it! They're all Mooslimes!

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To: MNDude

Perhaps my math is incorrect, but I counted 147 incidents listed.

What I find to be most interesting is that prior to BHO being elected POTUS, there were only 17 total flashmob incidents between 2002 and 2009, but the incidents skyrocketed beginning the day after BHO’s inaugeration.

17 incidents (4/20/02 thru 10/26/08)
130 incidents (1/21/09 to present)

Perfect example of Mawgli’s “Hope & Change”.

21 posted on Saturday, August 27, 2011 2:19:07 AM by Ernie Kaputnik ((It's a mad, mad, mad world.))

So is Obama running the flash mobbery, or Rudyard Kipling? I'm soo confused...

Well, who else besides the Freeperati think that flash mobs, You Tube, and other fads that post-date high-speed internet access are part of some master plan?

Glad you asked.

.

From the pages of "White News Now":

.

violentflashmobs.com

violentflashmobs.com
Well over 100 incidents involving Flash Mobs, with links to each.
http://violentflashmobs.com/

Jury Nullification

Re: violentflashmobs.com

You reckon the information on that website will be included in any "Black Appreciation" classes?

Didn't think so.

1 Week Ago #2

PWR

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Re: violentflashmobs.com

I'd like to see the site improve a little bit, somehow. Yes, documenting truth is now hate, I guess? I'd like to see more sites spring up like that one. I'd also like to see sites with specific accountability by judges, lawyers and the like tied and pinned to certain key decisions over these incidents as I believe they will skyrocket this election cycle. I have heard even NFL football players threaten riots. Riots and flash mobs are going to be the new political weapons to hold white nations hostage. You can just sense that.

Now, more than ever, whites must get the message out, band together, team up, and take the preparations to defend whites at all times.

LoveTheWhites

Isn't that sweet? Scratch a Freeper - get a white supremacist. You boys just let me tuck you in together real cozy-like.

PLEASE don't start the hate sex until we get out of the bedroom, thenkyewverramuch.

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More Strange Bedfellows after the leap of faith...

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Rising Tide Thank You Post

This is a shamelessly mushy post of mushiness. Feel free to skip if you're not into that sort of thing.

Irene Aftermath

So Irene's kicking the shit out of the east coast, and seriously, any of y'all need help, all you have to do is e-mail (points to top right corner) or comment or something.

There will be plenty of right-wing fuckery on the subject to write about this week, but for now, I want to make sure you're all doing okay.

A.

GOP told don't come to Labor Day Parade

Organizers of the Labor Day Parade in Wausau, WI have sent notice to state Republicans....you're not welcome to march in the parade. From Channel3000

Rising Tide 6 Webcast

Okey dokey, it's the big day. This is RT's first webcast and hopefully everything will go relatively smoothly. Click here from 9AM CST on or forever hold your peace.

Rising Tide 6 Blogging

I'll have more later, since I got here yesterday and have decided to just sleep when I get home, but my first impression is that this is such a different place from four years ago, the energy and joy are incandescent, and seeing it makes me happy the way you are when you see a friend succeed at something: Way to fucking go, man, that's awesome.

Liveblogging updates within.

Weekend Question: Hey, Boo Edition

Scout filling in for Athenae here. (Hey, NOLA!)

So in anticipation of viewing Hey, Boo.....I  recently watched To Kill a Mockingbird again and as always I was struck by the beauty of the opening credits.

To kill a mockingbird Ouverture by jedall

The music was by Elmer Bernstein and the opening credits were created by Design Director Stephen Frankfurt who explains the process below in a short video.

His work stands the test of time, looking as beautifully done in 2011, as was the case in 1962. I think it's the best ever. As soon as I say that other films come to mind.

So the question for today.....What do you think are the best opening credits or let's expand that to also include What do you think are the best opening scenes of a film?

“That sort of Negro”

A summer ritual of mine is to reread the books I can’t live without. Two of my favorites, Terry Pluto’s “Loose Balls” and Jim Bouton’s “Ball Four,” seemed particularly relevant this week.

In one part of “Loose Balls,” Pluto is interviewing Bob Costas about his rookie gig with the Spirits of St. Louis of the ABA. One of the best and most controversial players was Marvin “Bad News” Barnes, who had a habit of missing flights, missing appearances and missing out on a career. Barnes was an immense talent, who had a penchant for things that were viewed as being “controversial” in those days, which was code for “black.” He wore a floor-length mink coat, a wide brimmed hat and drove a Bentley. He also, according to myth, had a home with 14 telephones in it, back when most homes had only one, you rented them from the phone company and they cost a fortune.

After one particularly difficult stretch of games, Barnes was on some sort of tear where he explained that the people of St. Louis were not ready for “that sort of negro.” In other words, had he been a white guy, most of this stuff would have gone unnoticed. (Although, to be fair, I’m having a hard time seeing a white guy, other than Joe Namath, who could have pulled off the fur coat thing.)

In “Ball Four,” race was a frequent topic. One of Bouton’s Astro teammates noted he wouldn’t mind being called “the colored first baseman” if they referred to his counterpart as “the white first baseman.”

Even before that, Bouton recounted a semi-serious conversation several players had with teammate Tommy Davis about being a scout. The joke became that they’d send Davis to Watts to dig up black players. As the joke continued to unfold, the satire richened with the idea that the general manager wouldn’t want men of color who were colorful, which at one point they referred to as “that Vic Power shit.”

Power, a native of Puerto Rico, was often criticized by the white press in the 1960s for his flashy and unorthodox play. His greatest sin? He didn’t catch the ball with two hands. He also used humor to defuse these situations. According to author David Maraniss, Power entered a segregated diner in the South, where he was told the restaurant didn’t serve Negroes. Power responded that was fine: He didn’t eat Negroes, but could he get some rice and beans instead?

Which brings us to the recent revelation that prior to making Cam Newton the number one pick in the NFL draft, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson questioned him about any tattoos and piercings. When Newton replied, “No sir, I don’t have any,” Richardson responded, “Good. We want to keep it that way.”

Keep in mind that Richardson is the guy who overrode his own staff to sign Jeremy Shockey, who has more tattoos than my first-period class on any given year. While he told Shockey he could do without the tattoos, that’s an after-the-fact comment and it’s not like he stuck a clause in his contract that would void it if he decided to go back under the needle.

Instead, prior to determining if Newton would be drafted first or not, Richardson appeared to warp back about 200 years when the word “owner” meant something entirely different.

The conversation seemed to smack of the “we don’t want that sort of Negro” condescension and racism that should make everyone want to throw up.

This isn’t the first time that owners and teams have had trouble in this area. In 1999, the NBA put fiery guard Allen Iverson on the cover of its Hoop Magazine, but decided his tattoos were too unruly and airbrushed them away. No word on if they tried to airbrush his cornrows into Jerry West’s crew cut.

In 1994, Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott got into trouble for banning earrings on her team. When asked why didn’t want her players bedazzled, Schott replied, “Only fruits wear earrings.” She also was said to have referred to outfielders Eric Davis and Dave Parker as “million dollar niggers” and was overheard telling someone on a conference call that she’d rather have “a trained monkey working for me than a nigger.” Thus, Schott was not only racist and homophobic, but for some reason thought the heart of the problem was jewelry and the image it presented.

Truth be told, I’m not a huge fan of tattoos. I've had good friends with them (including one who got a swastika on his chest, swore it was the Hopi symbol for peace and spend six years trying to convince me he was 1/32nd Native American. Somewhere along the way he got a cover-up tat of a screaming flaming skull, which was clearly an upgrade), family with them and more.

My favorite tat story: I was engaged to a woman who got a tattoo of a sun on her breast. She promptly added 75 pounds and the thing ended up looking like a stick of melting butter.

The Missus has one. When she was looking at another one, I was cringing.

Still, their bodies, their choices. And they should be allowed the dignity to make those choices.

Richardson put himself out in the public eye as being a meddling, crusty white man with a double standard approach to self-expression and that should trouble pro football. Cam Newton might or might not want a tattoo, but it doesn’t make him better or worse as a football player or a person.

If you listen to players who have tats, you’ll find that it’s often a tribute to someone important (LeBron James has his mother’s name on his arm) or a reminder of who they are or where they came from (Iverson has “Cru Thik” on his body several places as a reminder of his friends and how they stuck together through thick and thin.)

To that end, I might suggest Richardson and Newton go get one together as a bonding experience.

Newton could get the Heisman tattooed on his bicep, as a reminder of a great college achievement. (Or if you are cynical, a wad of cash, three college transfer slips and an NCAA investigation form.)

Richardson could get “stupid rich asshole” tattooed on his forehead, as a reminder of what happens when you think money and self-importance give you the right to dictate the behavior of others.

Friday Ferretblogging: Buckyflop

I HAZ A SPEEDBUMP.

I'm heading down to NOLA for Rising Tide today (so look for updates over the weekend, and come say hi if you're there, I'll be the befrizzled pale Midwestern one mispronouncing everything) and so the beasties are off at Ferret Camp once again. This time there are EIGHT other ferrets at Ferret Camp, so they're making lanyards and singing songs and making s'mores. Every time I drop them off, I'm convinced they're not gonna want to come home.

A.

Friday Catblogging: Della Street, Ferret Dominatrix?

Dr. A and I have a running joke whenever Della decides to vociferously demand food at 4:30 AM: we threaten to ship her off to Chicago where she can perfect her craft as a dominatrix. Ferret dominatrix. If Athenae brings a large enough bag this weekend, we may try to slip Della into it.

This is, of course, a joke: Oscar would never stand for it and what Oskie wants, Oskie gets.

Anyway, here are two snaps of Della in full dominatrix mode:

"You ate shit"

Dr. A and I saw The Help last weekend. I liked it more than expected even though I agree with *some* of the points cited in Andrew O'Hehir's post that compiles reactions to the flick. If nothing else, it's refreshing that a summer movie has led to so much interesting discussion. Most summer flicks just make you pee a lot from buying the super duper mega soda. Slurp. Flush.

We saw The Help with an audience that was about 50% black folks; most of whom were women. I'm usually not a fan of talking at the movies BUT black women tend to talk about the movie and to the characters. In short, there was a live side show going on.

There was one elderly African-American lady who was a real pistol. She hooted at the dumbshit segregationists on the screen and was particularly hostile to Bryce Dallas Howard's character, Hilly. She's the villain as racist twinkie. Hilly fired her sassy maid, Minny, who later served her something *beyond* savory.

After said twinkie bigot ate the ostensibly chocolate pie, every time she appeared onscreen the old lady behind us cackled and hollered: "You ate shit."

Social Security Made Us Pussies

For serious, Marco Rubio:

Freshman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), maybe the risingest of the rising stars of the GOP, gave a speech in Washington in which he declared that key social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare have "weakened us as a people," i.e., undermined the moral fabric and strength fo the American people.

Apparently what we really needed was the strength and inner toughness to let our old folks just die in misery and poverty. The ones who hadn't been smart enough to get rich, of course. The smart ones, the ones who valued Hard Work and Bootstraps and Eating Beets and whatever, would have enough money to live in their mansions with their servants until the end of time, or (and this is my personal fantasy of my late 80s) die in a hammock someplace warm, preferably of rum consumption.

This is the new thing, of course, the new thing that isn't new: Interconnectedness is a weakness, a sickness, a virus destroying America. Our national identity derives primarily from some cowboy myth, and all our movies and stories are about Lone Heroes Saving the Day. The idea of everyone playing a part, of needing others, of being (yes) dependent upon the goodwill of one's neighbor, is anathema, and means that we are Welfare Queens. 

It's scary, I'll grant you, because we all know inside of us what kind of flaky fucksticks we can be, but I've got a secret for you: We're already dependent on one another. All the government does is codify it.

A.

Oh Look -- It's Dick Cheney

From Album4

Like a little white dot on an old tv that won't quite fade away after you shut it down, Dick's still radiating after slithering out from under his secure, undisclosed rock. And he promises "There are gonna be heads exploding all over Washington" upon the release of the scribblings he calls his memoir.

The only thing that would surprise me would be if he told the truth about being a rotten, lying sad sack of shit who's deeply sorry. Instead, I'm sure we'll be treated to "stunning revelations," like libruls-hate-'murika, Dubya (with the guiding hand of...Dick) was a good preznit, overthrowing Saddam was like defeating Hitler...and did I mention libruls hate 'murika?

Face of Satan might be a little too kind.

But you know, if Satan existed, he'd have to keep a constant eye out. Because even in eternal damnation Dick Cheney'd be scheming up something.

Beloit College Sucks, And So Do People Who Like Their Bullshit Lists

Now, in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em.  'Gimme five bees for a quarter,' you'd say.

Christ, it's that time of year again.  Beloit College, who I shouldn't even be mentioning, because this bullshit list is the only reason they ever get any publicity ever, has once again published their stupid fucking "Mindset List."  It's a collection of revolting conventional wisdom and pointless nostalgia that they compile, so they say, to "provid[e] a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college this fall."

Except that's not, you know, what they do.  Mentioning that, say, there's no more Sears catalog doesn't say a damn thing about incoming college students' cultural touchstones.  The presence or absence of juries in Russian courts has zero fucking relevance to 99.9999% of college freshmen.  Something that is totally irrelevant to the majority of people cannot be a cultural touchstone.

But that pales in comparison to number four on this year's list.  Behold!

The only significant labor disputes in their lifetimes have been in major league sports.

What the fuck? 

This is a list written by people at Beloit College.  Beloit.  Which is in, you know, Wisconsin.

That mother fucking Wisconsin. 

Sweet fucking corn-fed Midwestern Jesus, what the fuck?  Are we really just being erased from all the records?  Or are these dickwads just that blind to what's going on IN THEIR OWN BACKYARDS?

Jesus, I hate pointless and stupid nostalgia, but willful blindness and ignoring reality piss me off far, far more.

Forget the snake oil, worry about the snake

As much as possible, I stopped listening to Rick Perry a long while ago.

Now that he's really running, I have to admit it's interesting, in a sick fascination kind of way, to see how he operates as a Presidential candidate. Since I lived in NY during all but the very last bit of Dubya's governorship, this is the only time I've been in the position (along with a 20 million or so other Texans) of having firsthand knowledge, not experienced by the rest of the country, of a potential Presidential candidate. When someone's had their boot on your neck for a decade, it's weird watching them show their game face to a whole new set of necks. 

It's a whole other thing, though, watching the response as everyone else, from one end of the food chain to the other, tries to get up to speed on Hairdo. It might actually be interesting if it wasn't so damned frustrating. 

I know this is a process people have to go through, and I know for absolute certain I'm guilty of the exact same stuff at other times with other issues, but it's exhausting listening to the parsing, the indignant discussions, and especially the pat assessments by progressive bloggers as well as mainstream pundits: he's just another Bush, just another Fred Thompson, just another Bachmann, "We got this, he's just another C student idiot. Yay for us, we're smarter." 

First, everything Perry and the rest of the field are saying and doing right now is pretty much just a big choreographed butt-sniffing ritual so the RNC and assorted conservative PTB can decide who's the prettiest and and give them the cash.  

Second, when it comes to the base, there isn't any such thing as too crazy, too extremist, too conservative, too racist. 

Recent transplant to Austin Ana Marie Cox, in the Guardian. 

Perry, like Bush, plays upon the conservative base's disdain for the "lamestream media" with such tweaks and hyperbolic – Texas-sized! – rhetoric (he just accused the chairman of the Federal Reserve of treason!): the more commentator types wring their hands over Perry's statements, and the more coverage they generate, the more rank-and-file rightwingers can smugly satisfy their suspicion that Beltway panty-waists just don't get the "passion" that animates Tea Partiers and their would-be leaders.the more commentator types wring their hands over Perry's statements, and the more coverage they generate, the more rank-and-file rightwingers can smugly satisfy their suspicion that Beltway panty-waists just don't get the "passion" that animates Tea Partiers and their would-be leaders.

For example, according to Alternet, what Perry said in South Carolina was a damning gaffe by an ignorant racist, caught on tape for the world to see.

Rick Perry may be having the worst day in politics. His extremist belief that everything from consumer protection to Social Security to federal child labor laws is unconstitutional keep dogging him on the campaign trail.

Now he’s been caught on tape in South Carolina comparing the civil rights movement to the GOP’s fight for lower corporate taxes and deregulation. He could hardly have picked a worse day to fundamentally misunderstand and misrepresent the struggle for civil rights in America.

Bad day? Dude picked up two key endorsements and and a helicopter full of cash that day. Caught on tape? Of course it was, as it was meant to be. Racist? Of course. Misrepresenting? Definitely. Misunderstanding? Maybe he knows his history, maybe he doesn't, it's beside the point. Nothing Perry did that day was an accident. Those of us who were sickened by it were never going to vote for him anyway.

Let's get to the real point, folks: Perry is dangerous and not (simply) because of his views on god, guns, and gays. Or secession. Or civil rights. This is an experienced, tested politician — who has never lost an election— with an agenda above and beyond the snake oil salesman routine everybody's obsessed with. 

Cox:

More than any of his fellow contenders, Perry represents a bruising roll of the dice on America's future. Not so much because he's untested – he's the nation's longest-serving governor, after all – but because he's shown no concern for what the results of the tests he puts citizens through are … beyond being the foundation for proof of his distaste for the very system of governance he exists in. In another statement of impressive audacity, he recently called for Obama to "put a moratorium on regulations across this country" that are "killing jobs all across America".

Eliminating "all regulations" would, of course, put an end to, among other things, the safety testing of food and drugs, government oversight of transportation and even the ban of medical experiments on animal-human hybrids! A Perry regulation moratorium would add an element of risk to going to the grocery store, getting on a plane, even stepping out of the house, though it could provide lifetime employment for mad scientists and the like. It would be total anarchy: Mad Max meets Dr Moreau.

In case you think AMC's being a bit overwrought.

Populist homeboy Jim Hightower was on MSNBC the other night.

"They say the higher the monkey climbs, the more you see its ugly side,” Hightower said. “Well, Perry’s got a very ugly side. He’s going to get the kind of media scrutiny that he’s not had.”

I wish. So far, he's mostly gotten the exact same kind of media scrutiny. It's working pretty well for him.

“Republicans get a two’fer with him. One, they get one of the furthest-out of the far-out tea party right-wingers, sort of a Michele Bachmann with better hair."

That's the part of this interview that got the most play on the internet, but what Hightower said next should have been the money quote:

"And also though, they get the real Perry, which is the exuberant, corporate Republican who never met a corporate lobbyist he wouldn’t hug as long as that lobbyist had a campaign check and a wish list.

“He really is kind of a George Bush plutocrat without the intelligence or the ethics. That’s the real Perry, is really going to be the corporate Perry. That’s the kind of governorship he has run.”

 

Continuing On Wisconsin

If I read one more goddamn "why don't people protest anymore" essay, while things like this are going on, I will not be held responsible for the hole in the wall.

Follow along with the protesters, who are presently locked out of the congressman's offices, at #WhereisPaulRyan.

A.

But Hey, He's a Moderate

Huntsman: Sure, Bachmann's crazy, and her campaign promises have no hope of becoming reality, and I'm running against her, but I'd love to be her VP.

Shoot me now, please.

A.

Let's Be Friends!

NICE, Madigan:

Politics, as the adage goes, makes for strange bedfellows. How else to describe the news state House Speaker and de facto jefe of the Illinois Democratic Party Michael Madigan attending two fundraisers for House Speaker and Republican John Boehner a couple of weeks back?

[snip]

Madigan spokesman Steve Brown said his boss was there in the spirit of cooperation. Only the public hopes politicians cooperate with each other to get shit done, not raise money.

I get Mike's got to be hard up for friends these days, given his reputation as a truly epic asshole and the state's continued financial suckery, but seriously, nobody's 5-year-old had a bouncy castle he could spend the afternoon in?

And I bolded that bit above because it's such an important point, especially during this new era of cooperation and bipartisanship. People only really care if politicians like each other if that liking results in people's lives improving. I don't care how many rounds of golf Obama and Boehner play together, or if they call each other names. I live in the world, I can wrap my head around the idea that two grown-ass men think less than the world of each other, and occsaionally say mean things. What I can't wrap my head around is prioritizing making nice over doing good, or acting like the former is the latter.

A.

Hang On There, Republicans

Okay, this just struck me as absurd:

"It is absolutely clear that the Legislature paid no attention to the (right to vote) provisions of the Wisconsin Constitution when it passed voter ID," Pines said. "I'm not aware of any point in which they came up."

Pines said that requiring a photo ID amounts to another restriction on voting that isn't authorized by the state constitution. He said that small numbers of state residents are citizens but lack a birth certificate because of unusual circumstances in their lives, making it difficult to obtain an ID.

The law will require voters to show photo identification at the polls starting with next year's presidential primary. The law approved in May ended a decade-long quest by GOP officials and made Wisconsin the 11th state to have approved requiring some form of photo ID at the polls.

I wonder if it occurred to them (wait, no I don't, I know it didn't) that they'd be making it harder for their own mouthbreathing racist dipshits to choose a standard-bearer to do battle against the evil black president.

A.

And In Other Idiot Republican News

Shut your fucking mouth, you epic dumbass:

Across Florida, emergency management agencies were closely monitoring Irene's movements and track. They urged residents to make sure they have batteries, drinking water, food and other supplies available in case Irene takes aim at the state.

"We must prepare for the worst and hope for the best," said Joe Martinez, chairman of the Miami-Dade County Commission.

Gov. Rick Scott met with state emergency management officials and the state meteorologist, poring over detailed charts involving wind speed and steering currents. Scott, a first-term Republican who has not experienced a hurricane as governor, asked questions such as how much advanced notice would be needed for evacuations of low-lying areas.

"Irene's going to be close," Amy Godsey, the state meteorologist, told Scott. "We're not out of the woods yet."

Scott replied, "I'm an optimist."

JESUS TITS AND BLUEBERRY JAM. Did he not learn anything? Anything from Bush? Anything from fucking ... look, you do not SAY THINGS LIKE THAT OUT LOUD AND I'M SORRY I'M YELLING BUT SERIOUSLY SHUT THE FUCK UP. Do you really want that to be your message to the people of your state? "I'm an optimist?" Well good for fucking you. I'm sure that will be a massive comfort to all those in the hurricane's path, that you're pretty sure kind of that things will be okay maybe.

And if, God forbid, things are not okay? Then you've just written the first line of your political obituary, you stupid fuck. Christ, I'm so infuriated I can't even imagine that as a welcome possibility. Needless stupidity offends me almost as much as baseless pride in the same. Whatever this thundering nitwit is paying his press people, it clearly isn't enough to cover their headache meds and tequila, if this is the kind of thing that leaves his mouth all the time.

Please, First Draft readers in the path of what looks like a monster, stay safe, and let us know if there's anything you need.

A.

Rick Perry: Tax Cuts are the Ultimate Civil Right

Or something. I mean, you tell me what to parse out of this gibberish:

QUESTION: And coming to the Old Town Bistro you’re actually visiting a very important place in Rock Hill and the nation’s civil rights history. This year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Friendship Nine sit-in here. Care to comment on that?

PERRY: Listen, America’s gone a long way from the standpoint of civil rights and thank God we have. I mean we’ve gone from a country that made great strides in issues of civil rights. I think we all can be proud of that. And as we go forward, America needs to be about freedom. It needs to be about freedom from overtaxation, freedom from over-litigation, freedom from over-regulation.And Americans regardless of what their cultural or ethnic background is they need to know that they can come to America and you got a chance to have any dream come true because the economic climate is gonna be improved.

Yes. You need to know America is about freedom, the freedom for corporations to fuck you over and be entirely immune from paying for it in any way.

A.

Let's Get All the Old Folks To Give Us $1,000

Meanwhile, the people who can blow that on lunch get to sit around bitching about their Galtian dreams not coming true:

Officials with the state Department of Employee Trust Funds unveiled another hit to members' wallets last week — a coinsurance payment that could cost them up to $1,000 a year.

ETF on Thursday rolled out a series of videos and fact sheets meant to educate members about changes to health insurance benefits, some of them beginning as early as this week.

And while most of the changes, which come as the result of the new collective bargaining law, were expected, the new coinsurance payment was a surprise to some.

David Taylor, 61, a retired 25-year state employee, ran across the ETF website Thursday and was alarmed by the news. He said the change was not that big a deal for him, but he worried about others.

"This could have a huge impact on people," he said. "There are a lot of folks on fixed income."

I seriously have no patience for this nonsense right now. The comments are full of this sort of thing where $1,000 over the course of a year isn't "that" much, and you know what? If you have a good job and you're not in hock to the Russian mob for your fillings, no, it's not. But I never do hear anybody who's paying the electric bill one month and the gas bill the next talking about having an extra $75 sitting around at the 30th.

A.

Latest shameless Rising Tide plug

Long time, no plug. The conference is coming up this Saturday and may well be the best yet since I'm only going to be onstage to introduce David Simon. Here's another tidbit: Athenae will be attending and staying in Dr. A and my guest room. Oscar usually likes to crush our guest's legs so she has that to look forward to.

Anyhoo, if you're interested in attending or donating to the conference click here. There will be a web cast and I'll post that information when it's available.

Below is a clip from the WWL-TV morning news wherein anchor Sally Ann Roberts interviews my friends and fellow organizers Bart Everson and Alli Dejong. WWL-TV is the big kahuna of local stations: its morning show kills the Today Show in the ratings. So, Sally Ann is the queen of the morning in NOLA as well as Robin Roberts' older sister: